Joel's Visit part 1 12.27.2010

We are pleased to have our son Joel visiting us in KL for Christmas. He arrived on 23 December via London Heathrow. Go figure, the one snow event that Heathrow has had to be when Joel was heading overseas for the first time. Fortunately, he made his connection and arrived here only three hours late. We have been having lots of fun hanging out and doing lots of things together.

Joel and Eileen heading up to the orchid and hybiscus garden at Lake Gardens Park

At Lake Gardens, we found a coconut that had already sprouted into a tree. We took it home and planted it.

Christmas morning at church, L to R...Joel, Adam, Sivin, Eileen and me, with Jamie in the foreground.

The taxi ride from church

Christmas afternoon at our apartment. Htet Aung joined us as well.

Jamie's reaction to receiving Glee Karaoke for Wii from Joel and Bri

Christmas dinner...yes, they have turkeys in Malaysia!

Ready to eat!

We went to Cosmic Bowl after dinner on Chrismas night

Batu Caves. We brought bananas and tangerines to feed the monkeys!

Another monkey video!

Our Christmas Tree! 12.12.2010

We never thought about bringing anything to decorate for Christmas, so Eileen has been doing some amazing stuff to decorate our apartment.

She made a Christmas tree by wrapping garland around an 8-litre water bottle and made a star out of paper. She strung the lights and then hung candy canes. The base of the tree is a speaker for our TV. It doesn't matter where we are, Eileen always seems to make it home!

Jungle Walk 12.7.2010

We celebrated Islamic New Year (a National Holiday in Malaysia) by going on a jungle walk at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia. Eileen's driver Rafiq picked us up at our apartment and surprised us with a traditional Indian breakfast which was enjoyed on the way to FRIM.

Eileen isn't too happy enjoying her Idli (slightly sour steamed cakes made from a fermented rice-flour batter) with tomato chutney and coconut chutney.

Prior to entering the jungle, we stopped at this little store to buy some bananas in case we encountered some wild monkeys. We unloaded half of the bananas on the way up the mountain as they were getting too heavy to carry! I only spotted one monkey from a distance and didn't get the chance to feed it. Sorry Abby!

The trail that we hiked took about two hours to complete and was very challenging. It was like hiking the gorge at Robert Treman several times!

The canopy walk was closed for maintenance

The trek continues...

One of the streams we passed along our way

A local family having a picnic near the mountain top

This roof was just covered!

More jungle scenery

We happened upon the Malaysian Tea House. It was really amazing and we we'll eat here next time!